Standardized Testing

       Ever since talking about standardized testing last week in class I have spent some time thinking about whether or not they are beneficial or not. Personally I believe there is too much pressure from standardized tests to perform and live up to a certain standard. Testing in general in difficult but the ACT, SAT and MME all have set time blocks and put pressure on young adults. I started looking into standardized testing and whether or not they should be required for college admissions. As of 2014 there are 850 test-optional colleges. Meaning a submitted ACT or SAT score is not required. This trend of test optional is growing. When applying to schools the GPA of a student matters more.  According to an article I found on PBS GPA is better tool for acceptance to college. “According to the data, if high school grades are not high, good testing does not promise college success. Students with good grades and modest testing did better in college than students with higher testing and lower high school grades.”

If colleges are starting to slowly move away from standardized testing then why is it such a big production in the school system? Elementary school students should not be testing. Elementary school is laying the foundation for higher education so children should be working to master certain skills. Testing of these skills can be done school wide to measure improvement but it should not be done at a state level with the MEAP test or others similar to that. Recently new standards for testing have been proposed by the government which would reduce the amount of testing done in each grade and eliminate the No Child Left Behind Act. “In its new guidance to states, the U.S. Department of Education tries to soften its emphasis on using test scores to evaluate teachers and urges states and local districts to cut down on redundant and low-quality tests. The agency also pledged to work with states to amend waivers they have received under No Child Left Behind “to reduce testing in grades and subjects that are not subject to federal testing requirements and/or find alternative ways” to judge student achievement and use that to evaluate teachers.”

Overall this emphasis on test performance creates unnecessary stress for students and when testing starts young it becomes the normal way of determining how successful one is. Standardized testing and the number of tests given needs to be reevaluates because our education system is flawed.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/nail-biting-standardized-testing-may-miss-mark-college-students/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/study-says-standardized-testing-is-overwhelming-nations-public-schools/2015/10/24/8a22092c-79ae-11e5-a958-d889faf561dc_story.html